Peter Andre has described an experiment that allowed him to experience first-hand the pain of giving birth as going through "hell".

In a bid to understand what his wife, Emily MacDonagh, will feel when she gives birth to their second child in a few weeks' time, the singer went to a special clinic in Amsterdam to try it out for himself.

But speaking to ITV's Loose Women after the experience, the 43-year-old said: "They say that guys can relate to it if you've had kidney stones and I've had kidney stones and let me tell you, I would have another 20 kidney stones rather than go through that again. That was hell."

Paying male patients at The Birth Hotel, which is the world's only clinic of its kind, are attached to a machine which uses four increasing stages of electric simulation to replicate labour contractions.

The practice is illegal in the UK.

Andre told the programme on Friday: "I felt like a sledgehammer had hit me when they got to the level of 10cm dilation. It hit me like a tonne of bricks."

Footage of Andre's experience showed him laughing nervously as he reached the first 3-4 pain level.

When the machine reached the third stage, he began groaning and crying and said: "The pain is absolutely horrific."

Specialists stopped the machine when he said: "I get it, I get it, I get it. Have I given birth yet?"

He also told the programme that he had worn a 2.5 stone fake belly in the lead-up to his labour experience and said the worst part was being unable to put on his socks.

Asked about how it would affect his feelings when his wife soon gives birth, he said: "As soon as I went home, I was noticing that I was different straight away.

"We are going to go through this for real and I'm going to be very different this time because I'm going to know what she's going through.